This invention relates to a process used in the manufacture of ceramic rotors for turbines.
Attempts have heretofore been made to use ceramics in a compressor rotor for a gas turbine, power turbine rotor, turbocharger rotor and the like for improving its thermal resistance. These rotors have been subjected to grinding in which a diamond grindstone is applied to edges of blade end faces to provide the latter with a rounded and beveled shape (the so-called "R" and "C") to increase the resistance of the blade to chipping or damage by impact with particles suspended in the gas passing through the turbine as the rotor is rotated at high speed.
The aforementioned conventional grinding techniques tend to crack the edges of the rotor, thereby lowering the impact resistance of the rotor to foreign articles that may impinge on the rotor. Further, such processes induce large variation of "R" and "C" tolerance values and increase variation of the product.